Granada influencer sentenced to 31 years in prison for sexual assaults against five minors

The Granada Provincial Court also handed the man an additional eight-month prison sentence for showing pornographic material to another young person.

The man, who is in his thirties, presented himself online as a social media influencer and also worked selling e-cigarettes. The court found that he used his public profile and close relationship with teenagers to gain their trust before carrying out the offences "to satisfy his sexual desires", according to the ruling.

The ruling described how the man approached teenagers in Granada from May 2024 onwards, building relationships with a group of friends before allegedly exploiting their trust.

The court found that he used his role as a content creator and his work selling e-cigarettes to gradually gain their confidence by presenting himself as a trusted adult figure, offering opportunities to participate in digital content creation, inviting them to his home and suggesting they could receive personal or material benefits.

The judgement said these actions created "a dynamic of grooming and trust" that allowed him to overcome the natural protective barriers of their age and place them in a vulnerable position.

The court also noted that he met some of the teenagers on several occasions to play football, helping him become a role model figure among them.

During the trial, held at the Provincial Court in May, the defendant denied all the allegations. He claimed the accusations were made after he told the mother of one of the victims, aged between 13 and 15, that the teenager had stolen his mobile phone.

"The defendant expressly denied having had any sexual contact with any of the minors, as well as having carried out inappropriate touching, shown photographs or videos of a sexual nature, or opened files of that kind," the ruling stated.

"He maintained that videos and photographs had been made with the minors, but that these were always related to creating online content and were never sexual or intimate in nature."

The defendant admitted that he had become friends with the teenagers because they shared an interest in producing content for the internet. He said they had occasionally visited his home, where they created videos for social media and smoked shisha.

The defendant, a Pakistani national who has lived in Spain for several years, said he helped them with content creation in the same way he assisted other creators.

However, the court rejected his version of events and said the victims' testimony was credible. The judgement concluded that the sexual assaults had taken place.

It ruled that he had committed five separate continuing sexual assault offences and imposed prison sentences ranging from two to 12 years. He was also sentenced to eight months in prison for showing pornographic material to another young person.

The individual has been in custody since his arrest and will remain behind bars unless he successfully appeals against the conviction.

The sentences include restraining orders preventing him from approaching or contacting the victims, a ban on working with minors and compensation payments of varying amounts.

The court also rejected the possibility of deporting the defendant from Spain, ruling that he must serve his sentence in full in a prison in the country.